


MenPa (060920)

by LeeRain



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27473455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeRain/pseuds/LeeRain
Summary: Moments before Yuta's "I will eat you" tweet, a stressed-out staff member on NCT's design team is hiding out on the rooftop as she plans her week ahead. This was meant to flesh out dynamics... no sex, sorry to disappoint. Just friendly banter between a staff member/OC and Johnny.- Mentions smoking and vaping.
Relationships: Suh Youngho | Johnny/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	MenPa (060920)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thanks for stopping by.  
> Just so you don't get lost while reading, the OC in the story is called Yukari. She works on the design team and does everything from supervising NCT's music sets to getting the members ready for them.
> 
> I appreciate that you have read this far and if you have any constructive feedback for this fic, please do leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!

06 September 2020, Sunday

4:58PM

Impatiently tapping my fingers against the chair that I left on the roof, I scanned the schedule of my week ahead that was open on a tablet before me. Fitting for the Year Party live tomorrow, set supervision for Part 2 for the next 2 weeks and that department-wide CA talk that I have to plan after that outburst I had two month ago.

I’ve got to ask for permission to use the release pictures as examples, type up a form so they can’t sue me for misuse, book a meeting room, wait a minute, how many people are in the department anyway? Will they all fit, _is that even allowed at the moment?_

Taking a long drag from my cigarette, I exhaled and furrowed my brows at the checklist I created specifically for this talk. The empty box beside ‘Request for compulsory attendance of representatives from creative, music production, choreography team’ is just mocking me at this point. Seriously, why hasn’t HR or management given me a reply for this yet?

A loud creaking sound akin to metal scraping against rusted metal suddenly pulled me out from my own thoughts. Tearing my eyes away from my tablet, I see a head of blonde hair poking out from the door and I froze.

A resident preparing for a barbecue, in the middle of a pandemic?

Wait a minute, I don’t think I’m allowed to smoke here. Am I getting penalised again?

The tall figure turned and his eyes met mine, his mouth turned up into an all-too-familiar smile. “I’m reporting you to the building management for smoking.”

“Be my guest, you’ll be in trouble as well if you did.” I retort as Johnny sits in the chair next to mine and shrugs. “Fair enough,” he gives me an elbow bump as he leans in to look over at my schedule, “you’re not going to get any time to yourself after this, are you?”

I sigh and switch off the tablet, “Yeah, I’d kill for a few days off but we’ve been understaffed since May.” I reply dejectedly and lean back in my chair, propping my feet up on the table in front of me. “Anyway, that’s enough of me. You’re finally blonde again.” lifting my chin slightly to indicate his blonde hair. He cards his hand through it, “Does it suit me?” he asked, looking slightly bashful as he did so.

“Obviously!” my response was immediate. As someone on the design team, I know from experience that this man looks good in anything (maybe not that long wig that they gave him in “Wakey-Wakey” but even then, Lucius Malfoy and Jeonghan comparisons were everywhere when the MV was released. Poor Sehun couldn’t catch a break on social media). “I’ve been including your picture from Rookies era in your concept designs since Regular but the styling team kept giving you different shades of _brown_.” I blew a raspberry and snuffed out my cigarette on the ashtray that I had brought along.

Something occurred to me and I leaned forward to look at Johnny directly, brows furrowed in concerned. “Do you like it? Is it manageable for you?”

Stunned by my sudden display of concern, he replied rather absentmindedly “Huh? Yeah.. yeah. They’re just going to dye it back to brown someday anyway.”

“Hey, look, if you want to try something different, just let me know and I’ll try my best to incorporate it into my design pitch.” I paused and eyed his deceivingly simple graphic tee that probably costs more than my phone bills. “I’ll even give you a shirt for the next album if you want it.” I stated flatly.

“Wow, that’s very considerate of you.” he quipped as he switched on his vape and brought it to his lips. His eyes stayed on the blank screen of my tablet for a moment as if he was considering something and exhaled, white plumes of vapour/smoke filling the space in front of him as he did.

“How about joining us for dinner today? Pizza and chicken, just us same-age friends, my treat.” I blinked owlishly at him. “…What’s the occasion?” I asked carefully. Getting take-out wasn’t anything completely out of left field; offering to pay before anyone called the take-out place, however, was something rare. We usually decided together through a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors although it has never been my turn to pay for anything in all the years that I have been part of the rooftop four.

Taking another drag from his vape, he replied: “Taeyong looks pretty down today, Yuta’s been a little under the weather, and you have a long week ahead. Might as well have a meal together while we still can. So what do you say?” He turns to look at me while toying with his phone in his other hand, waiting for my answer.

It’s been a while since we were last together as a group; what with Taeyong’s activities with SuperM, and it’s been evident for months now that all of us needed to unwind. I’ve wanted to invite them over for a small get-together for months now but had never got to it due to… logistical issues (read: schedules and sasaengs). If Johnny hadn’t taken the initiative to say it now, I doubt it would be possible to have all of us gathered in one spot for the foreseeable future.

Considering the offer, I said: “Okay, but I’m getting the booze.” They always find some way to stop me from paying, so that’s the least I could do.

“Deal.” He accepted my terms. I immediately made a mental checklist of my alcohol inventory, counting the brands in my head and stating the ones that were their preference.

“Chamisul is a must, maybe I should break out a few bottles of that C1 that I picked up on a whim, ooh how about beer? Since the ban on Japanese imports, I’ve switched to drinking Moonbear and Hite but it’s probably not the best choice since you guys have a fitting tomorrow-“

I pay no attention to Johnny as he absentmindedly nods along to everything, probably waiting for me to attempt to work scotch into the equation.

“-should I just bring scotch instead….no, I’ll need ice for that.”

“Yeah, and it’s going to be terrible if all of us showed up hungover tomorrow,” Johnny says as he takes another drag from his vape pen.

I turned to Johnny, waving my hand at him. “Oh come on, I thought we’ve already established that booze was just an accompaniment to conversations? Plus all of you handle it well anyway.”

“Did you conveniently forget that one time we had to drag Yuta back to the dorms after he tried to drink a full bottle of whiskey like it was a shot?” Johnny retorted in mock exasperation.

Images of Yuta tackling Taeil as soon as he answered the door and the ensuing chaos that unfolded in the 10th-floor dorms came flooding back. “…Well, I was hoping you wouldn’t bring that up,” I said sheepishly. Speaking of Yuta…

“Where is Yuta?”

“Menpa.” Johnny supplied as he stared off into the distance.

 _Roadrunner beep beep_.

Speak of the devil.

My phone chimes to indicate a notification from Twitter.

“Has it started?” Johnny leaned in to peek at my phone screen and chuckles to himself. “I wonder how many ‘Hi’ tweets he’ll see today.”

“Don’t they all start with ‘Hi’s first?”

“It’s always Hi and a meme. Look.” He points at the long list posts that range from “OMG HI YUTA” to tweets composed entirely of “Hi Yuta” or “i love you yuta” (that’s a little scary but okay, let’s roll with it). “I guess you’re right.” I continue to scroll until a certain tweet caught my eye.

Letting out an uncharacteristic snort, I showed Johnny a tweet from a user who decided to tweet something rather unorthodox.

“This is new.”

Johnny tapped at the screen and laughed.

He tapped the screen a few more times…

Then a pause…

“Uh…Yukari? He replied.”

Pushing the phone back to me, he bit his lips to stop himself from laughing as I stared at Yuta’s reply to the fan in question.

As he observed my expression shift through confusion, acknowledgement, laughter and panic all in the span of a few seconds, he didn’t even bother to hide his grin anymore. He eventually gave in and bowled over in full-blown laughter as I lunged for my tablet.

I bolted straight for the door to the stairwell as Johnny called out about some ashtray. “LEAVE IT, HE JUST SAID HE WANTS TO EAT A FAN!” Pushing the door open, I run to the closest elevator and almost punched the button to the 10th floor. Johnny slips into the elevator with my cleared ashtray just as the doors were closing.

Patting my shoulder with his free hand, he said in the most reassuring tone he could muster,”Hey, I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal.”

“You say that, John, but Twitter never forgets. Especially not NCTzen Twitter.”

“At least it’ll give them something to laugh about for a little while?”

“If management knew what humour was, it might not be a big deal-” I protested as the elevator door opened to the 10th floor. Both of us made our way to the dorm and rang the doorbell. “-but those people took the design department’s joke pitch seriously and made overpriced black toothpaste.” I rang the doorbell a few more times for good measure when there wasn’t an answer, taking the chance to pull up the “I will eat you ” tweet.

The person who answered the door was a rather irritated Seung-min who eyed our wind-swept hair and Johnny’s bright smile with suspicion which he quickly hid behind a smile. “What a pleasant surprise Yukari,” he gives me a nod and turns to acknowledge the towering figure of a man who casually leaned against the doorframe of the entrance, “Johnny, I see you two have been smoking again.” From inside the apartment, Mark glanced over and gave us a wave in greeting before making his way to the living room.

Forgoing formalities, I shoved my phone into his hand.

“I don’t think people will think Yuta’s eating just food.”

It took Seung-min a second to process what he was reading. When he did, Johnny chuckled, remarking that he had the same expression as I did when I first saw the tweet. Seung-min was shrieking “YUTA DELETEEEEE!” from where he stood.

“Wait, screenshot it before it gets deleted.” Johnny, forever the enticer of chaos, nudges.

 _Beep beep_.

I glanced at my phone screen.

“Don’t worry, Mark’s got it.”

As if on cue, Mark emerges from the living room, laughing uncontrollably and took the place of Seung-min who headed for Yuta’s room. The look of utter disappointment that he levelled our way before he left was one of the best things I’ve seen all week.

Well… second only to Yuta’s tweet of course.

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I'm quite surprised that you have read till the end. Please consider leaving a comment if you think there are things that I should improve on.
> 
> If you liked this, there might be more where this came from, I'm just not ready to share them yet.


End file.
